The End of Life
by WeyrwomanAnna
Summary: The battle is over, and InuYasha has the Shikon Jewel...and makes his wish


Disclaimer: I do not own InuYasha. Sadly.

The cold wind blew, rustling in the fall leaves, stirring the hair of one uncaring hanyou. He was sitting, staring at a grave, with a name engraved on it. Kagome.

She was gone now, struck down in that final battle against Naraku. The hanyou's golden eyes stared, tears pooling on the edge of his vision.

"Why?"

That single question haunted him, and his head fell forward against his chest, as the memories flowed freely.

_Flashback_

He panted, holding Tessaiga in front of him, staring at Naraku, who had finally grown brave enough and had collected enough shards to fight them. Sango stood nearby, her broken Hiraikotsu held uselessly in one hand, her sword in the other. Her eyes glowed with a hatred previously unseen. Naraku had killed Kohaku at the beginning of the battle, claiming his shard. In Kohaku's last moments, his memories were returned and he screamed and cried as he died staring at his sister. 

_Miroku stood, barely, by leaning against a tree. Naraku had rendered his Wind Tunnel useless when the miasma spread, and he had already used the Wind Tunnel on some before he could stop. He was dying, and they all knew it._

_Kagome stood next to him, tears flowing from her eyes, arrow drawn and ready to fire. Naraku was tauntng them, and they all knew it. Blinking once to clear her vision, she shouted, and released the arrow._

_Its purifying power was immense, destroying part of Naraku. Even as she drew to fire again, he was regenerating. InuYasha swung, the Wind Scar wrapped around his blade, sending a powerful blast out. At the same moment, Kagome fired her last arrow._

_The resultant blast of power threw them away from the site and each other. More damage was done than that though._

_End_

"Damn you, Naraku! Why couldn't you die and leave it as that? Why did you use the last of your power for something so childish?!" His tears began to flow freely. The memories continued in a silent march.

_Flashback_

He picked himself up, using the Tessiaga to help himself balance. Moving slowly, because of his injuries, he set off to find the others.

_He found the monk first. _

_End_

"Couldn't leave without tearing the Wind Tunnel wide open, could you? You just couldn't leave well enough alone..." He turned his head towards the second grave. "Just...couldn't resist, could you?"

_Flashback_

His arm that had previously had the Wind Tunnel in it was gone, and so was part of his chest. Her was still breathing, but barely. He spoke, knowing his last word would be heard.

_"InuYasha...We got him...right? The bastard...is dead...and my Wind Tunnel...it's gone. Ha. Got him in the end...didn't we? I just wish...I could live to see Sango...one last time. Tell her, InuYasha...tell her I loved her..."_

"We knew...I will tell her..."

The monk died then, a smile on his face at the end of his quest.

_End_

He bared his fangs. He never did carry out the monk's final wish. His head turned to the third grave. "Sango..."

_Flashback_

_He found the slayer a few minutes away. She was unconcious, and clearly dying. Her broken Hiraikotsu lay next to her, a silent testament to the sheer terror of the battle. Her sword was impaled in her stomach, from when she had been thrown backwards in the blast. He picked her up carefully and carried her to lay next to the monk. _

_He watched her breathing slow and finally stop. Then he moved on to look for the remaining three._

End

His golden orbs turn to the last two, smaller graves. "Shippo...Kirara...you fought well beside us. That battle was hard...yet you fought well."

_Flashback_

_Shippo and Kirara stood together in the battle, using Fox Fire and fangs to bring down many of the smaller youkai. The blast at the end had blown them, still together, into the forest, farther than the others. He had found them, after a search. Laying together, as kitsune and kitten, eyes closed, wounds still leaking blood, but the bodies cold. He had cried then, seeing the loyalty left, even in death, for these two. He had carefully picked them up, and carried them, still hanging onto each other, back to the other two. He stared for a few minutes after, at the monk and the slayer, the kitsune and the fire cat. Then he trudged off again._

_End_

"That was when I found you, Kagome..." His eyes turned back to the first grave. "I found you...and carried you back to be with the others."

_Flashback_

_He stood, staring at the battered remains of the little miko, who he had loved. Her body was impaled on a broken branch, her bow smashed...But she held the purified Shikon no Tama in her hand...and somehow, she was still breathing._

_He shook then, holding back terrified sobs. She glanced up at him, her head rising from her chest to look at him._

"InuYasha..." 

_He glanced up sharply._

"Remember what I told you in the battle with Kaguya? I leave this jewel to you...make the right choice..."  


_The effort of speaking was too much. Her head fell forward again and she stoped breathing. _

_He howled his distress to the sky for hours._

_And then he carried her to the others, tears streaming down his face._

_End_

"I knew what to do with the Shikon no Tama, Kagome, and I will do it. I carried you to your time, along with Sango, Miroku, Shippo and Kirara. I told your mother. She cried. I told your brother and grandfather. They cried. And I cried. Time passed, a few days, and then I left. I stayed in the feudal era, and finally put Kikyo behind me, and let her go in peace...She left when I told her I wouldn't go to hell wih her."

A small smile flickered at the corner of his mouth.

"I put my fight with Sesshomaru to rest. I gave him the Tessiaga, after seeing him protect Rin from a large horde of demons. He looked surprised I would give it to him, but I turned and left, no explanation." 

He played with the small jewel in the palm of his hand. It looked like a pearl almost...

"And now I have returned to your era, and these graves. And I know what to do with it now..."

And the hanyou did. He made his wish, then stood and turned around, smiling at the five whose graves he was at. He ran to embrace Kagome, to hug Shippo, Sango, and even the monk and Kirara. Then, together once more, they looked at the graves, and the body of the hanyou who lay at the foot of one. Then they left, forever together, never to part.


End file.
